Feds to help police 'take back NC'

Bill Hand BillHandNBSJ

Friday

May 18, 2018 at 5:49 PMMay 18, 2018 at 5:49 PM

U.S. Attorney Robert J. Higdon Jr. wants drug criminals in Eastern North Carolina to know that the kid gloves are off.

The federal prosecutor for the Eastern North Carolina District, which includes 47 counties, appeared at the Craven County Sheriff’s office Friday morning to announce the Take Back North Carolina Initiative. To emphasize a new spirit of cooperation between federal and local forces, he included District Attorney Scott Thomas and sheriffs and police chiefs from around Craven, Pamlico and Carteret counties to stand behind him as he outlined the program.

Higdon stated that “this initiative will bring the full weight and resources of the federal court system in the fight against crime in those counties in partnership with district attorneys’ offices and federal, state, and local law enforcement.”

Although it targets all violent crime, its immediate emphasis will be on “the alarming level of opioid use and the deaths associated with it,” he said.

Higdon started by laying out a grim picture of crime in eastern North Carolina. Reviewing his 25 years as a federal prosecutor, he said that in the past “we saw a decline in crime rates all across the country … because law enforcement agencies banded together.”

He said that, in the past, the Eastern N.C. Department of Justice office has used the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCHDETF) to battle crime. He described it as “a congressionally-funded group of prosecutors and agents working together across the district and led from my office as our primary vehicle to identify and target the most serious drug trafficking organizations operating in our district.

“Historically in this district, OCHDETF has been used effectively to drive drug traffickers out of the eastern district. However in recent years OCHDETF has been de-emphasized. It’s caseload fell dramatically and investigative agencies were left with no choice but to pursue prosecutions in the state court,” he added.

Partly as a result of this, he said, crime has gone up. Between 2014 and 2016, he said, violent crime has increased nationwide by 7 percent, assaults by 10 percent, rape by 11 percent and murder by more than 20 percent.

In addition, “We are facing the greatest drug crisis in our history,” he said, noting that 64,000 people have died of drug overdoses in the nation — one every nine minutes. “That’s roughly the population of New Bern dead in one year,” he said.

In North Carolina, an average of three people die every day of drug overdoses, most often from Fentanyl and heroin. Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death of Americans under age 50.

He also noted that New Bern’s violent crime rate is 125 per 30,000 people, exceeding the national average.

“Law enforcement all across this federal district began to sound alarm bells,” he said.

“We will not stand back and allow the crime rate to continue to rise,” he said. “When (President Donald) Trump took office in 2017, his direction to the Department of Justice was simple and clear: reduce crime in America.”

Higdon said he was responding by reinvigorating the OCHDETF, by interacting directly with local law enforcement agencies, and by taking on more cases under the federal level.

When criminals are arrested under federal charges, getting out on bond to repeat the same crimes is far less likely; also federal prison sentences are more severe, keeping violent offenders locked up longer, he said.

Higden said the Take Back North Carolina Initiative includes a commitment from the Department of Justice to take on more federal cases at the request of area law enforcement, easing local caseloads. “Law enforcement in each community will have a point of contact with my office to ensure that cases are reviewed and accepted for federal prosecution as rapidly and efficiently as possible,” he noted. And, in cases the DOJ takes on, “We are now always charging the most serious, readily approvable offense. There is no longer any charge-bargaining in this District.”

High on his list of targets are “medical professionals who illegally prescribe opioids and other prescription drugs which are driving the drug overdose death rate in our communities.”

In a comment reminiscent of Churchill’s wartime speeches, he pronounced, “We are taking NC back from drug dealers and violent criminals, from the doctors who overprescribe and illegally distribute prescription drugs, and we’re prepared to work with this problem until every community, every neighborhood, every street and every home is safe and secure and free from the worry of violent crime and drugs … .

“Our work is already underway. We have been reassigning our resources, working cooperatively with our law enforcement partners, and targeting the worst offenders for weeks.”

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